★★★★✩.

i’m notorious for finding a singular reddit comment or tweet that recommends a book and diving in blind. more often than not, it quickly becomes part of my canon. too like the lightning is the most recent example. this was a very interesting and compelling book for me. i listened to a strong majority of the book via audiobook which always helps me get through a long commute; when i find myself continuing to listen throughout the day, i know i’m enjoying the read.

some may find the consistent fourth-wall-breaking to be pretentious (do you, like me, scorn the use of the word pretentious, reader?) but it was very entertaining to me. mycroft canner is a very welcome host to this strange and simultaneously advanced and anachronistic society.

so much of this book is considering political and philosophical dialectics that the primary characters of true science-fiction-ness (bridger and j.e.d.d. mason, mainly) are all but kept in the background–this is endearing to me. there is an element of mystery and allure to the scarcity. and i’m sure they will be front and center in the sequel.

my least favorite aspect of this world is the seven-ten list, a formalized watch mojo list of top ten individuals across the planet, of which the theft becomes an international scandal. it is precisely the ego of man which i believe transcends time, from the 18th to the 25th century; yet the incestuous nature of those in power renders (in my humblest opinion, reader) the order of the list somewhat moot. obviously i am willing to overlook my apathy for a piece of worldbuilding which ultimately serves a purpose. and that purpose is a glorious third act which slotted resolutions and further questions like dominoes falling in just the right order to spell something which remained imperceptible upright.

i will not hesitate to gorge myself on the remaining books in this series.